2018 FIFA World Cup

It devastated about miles of the coastline from Timbalier Bay to Pensacola. Showery weather continued through the 7th. It's like watching a huge pile-up on the freeway where no one survives, only all the dead bodies are the most ugly people this side of a trailer park crackhouse Just what is in Portland's water anyway? Kathmandu becomes the capital of the Gorkha kingdom shortly thereafter. Nearly all rice was lost. A large number of fishing camps were damaged or destroyed along Lake Pontchartrain.

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Some blades were locally made in the European style. The firangi sword characteristically had a straight blade of backsword form single edged. The blade often incorporated one, two, or three fullers grooves and had a spear-tip shaped point. The sword could be used to both cut and thrust. Examples with narrow rapier blades have survived, though in small numbers.

The hilt was of the type sometimes called the "Indian basket-hilt" and was identical to that of another Indian straight-bladed sword the khanda. The hilt afforded a substantial amount of protection for the hand and had a prominent spike projecting from the pommel which could be grasped, resulting in a two-handed capability for the sword. Like other contemporary Indian swords the hilt of the firangi was usually of iron and the tang of the blade was attached to the hilt using a very strong resin, additionally, the hilt to blade connection was reinforced by projections from the hilt onto either face of the forte of the blade which were riveted together though a hole passing through the blade.

Because of its length the firangi is usually regarded as primarily a cavalry weapon. Illustrations suggest a 16th-century date for the development of the sword, though early examples appear to have had simpler cross-guard hilts, similar to those of the talwar. The sword has been especially associated with the Marathas, who were famed for their cavalry. However, the firangi was widely used by the Mughals and those peoples who came under their rule, including Sikhs and Rajputs.

Images of Mughal potentates holding firangis, or accompanied by retainers carrying their masters' firangis, suggest that the sword became a symbol of martial virtue and power.

Photographs of Indian officers of Hodson's Horse an irregular cavalry unit raised by the British show that the firangi was still in active use at the time of the Indian Mutiny in The khanda can generally be a double-edge but can be a single edged straight sword.

It is often featured in religious iconography, theatre and art depicting the ancient history of India. Some communities venerate the weapon as a symbol of Shiva.

It is a common weapon in the martial arts in the Indian subcontinent. Khanda often appears in Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh scriptures and art The word khanda has its origins in the Sanskrit meaning "to break, divide, cut, destroy". A fabulous original historical artifact ideal for the collector with an interest in the earliest period of America. Printed in a 16th Century map of the Southern half of the United States and Mexico, including Florida and Texas] hand-coloured map depicting Mexico, Central America and some southern states of the USA, plate mm x mm, engraver's alterations visible on the Yucatan peninsula, mounted, framed and glazed.

Girolamo Ruscelli s was an Italian polymath, humanist, editor, and cartographer active in Venice during the early 16th century. Ruscelli is best known for his important revision of Ptolemy's Geographia, which was published posthumously in It is generally assumed that Alexius Pedemontanus was a pseudonym of Girolamo Ruscelli. A collection that was sold, and entered the collectors market and various museums, in , which contained some Nuremberg and Augsberg 'black and white' morion helmets such as this.

Morion is a type of open helmet used from the middle 16th to early 17th centuries, usually having a flat brim and a crest from front to back. Its introduction was contemporaneous with the exploration of North, Central, and South America. Explorers like Hernando de Soto and Coronado may have supplied them to their foot soldiers in the s.

The iconic morion, though popularly identified with early Spanish explorers and conquistadors, was not in use as early as the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortez or Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Incas in South America. Thirty to forty years later, it was widely used by the Spanish, but also common among foot soldiers of many European nationalities, including the English; the first English morions were issued during the reign of Edward VI.

The crest or comb on the top of the helmet was designed to strengthen it. Later versions also had cheek guards and even removable faceplates to protect the soldier from sword cuts. The morion's shape is derived from that of an older helmet, the Chapel de Fer, or "Kettle Hat. A somewhat similar example is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York accession number Thomas Cuninghame of the 45th Foot.

One of three original family swords, owned and used in combat by the above, all with their own built in provenance, from the world renown British Army, serving in the 95th, 45th and the 79th Regiments. All three were acquired, expertly conserved and just one, from the 45th Regt, is now awaiting final restoration. They were all acquired from a direct line family descendant of the same name, and they are all for sale separately.

A super, antique and historical, officers combat sword of his ancestor, who fought with distinction in the Napoleonic Wars era. Each sword is engraved with the family name, crest, and motto. This sword, belonged to William Alexander, Cuninghame, who joined his regiment as a junior officer in April , and served as an officer in the 95th regt. William Cuninghame Cuninghame, in the Crimean War. According to family record, W. Cuninghame while serving with his regiment was wounded in Guadaloupe in , but this may well have been early , during the British invasion to retake the island in Napoleon's Hundred Days period.

The Hundred Days war was so called after Napoleon returned from exile in Elba, reformed his army, declared war on the allies, and that culminated in the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium, Wellington's great victory and Napoleon's final defeat.

The Pattern British Infantry Officers Sword was carried by officers of the line infantry in the British Army between and the time of its official replacement with the gothic hilted sword in This period encompassed the whole of the Napoleonic Wars. The sword was introduced by General Order in , replacing the previous Pattern. It was similar to its prececesor in having a spadroon blade, i. The hilt gilt brass with a knucklebow, vestigial quillon and a twin-shell guard somewhat similar in appearance to that of the smallswords which had been common civilian wear until shortly before this period.

The pommel was urn shaped and, in many later examples, the inner guard was hinged to allow the sword to sit against the body more comfortably and reduce wear to the officer's uniform. Blades were commonly quite extensively decorated, often blued and gilt.

A most impressive sabre, and very good indeed. The very type of ordnance made and issued Hussar's and Lancer's trooper's sabre used by British Cavalry in the ill fated charge in the Crimean War against Russia. All steel three bar steel hilt, combat blade with leather covered wooden ribbed grip with original copper triple wire binding.

Absolutely used at the time and used by all the serving cavalry troopers in the famous 'Charge'. In the Crimean War , the Light Dragoons were in the forefront of the famous Charge of the Light Brigade, immortalized by Tennyson's poem of that name "Into the valley of death rode the six hundred".

The regiments adopted the title hussars at this time, and the uniform became very stylish, aping the hussars of the Austro-Hungarian army. But soon the blues and yellows and golds gave way to khaki as the British army found itself in skirmishes throughout the far-flung Empire, in India and South Africa especially.

For example in the 13th Hussars regiment received its orders from the War Office to prepare for service overseas. After a troubled voyage, the regiment arrived at Varna, Bulgaria on the 2 June. On the 28 August the entire Light Brigade consisting of the 4th Light Dragoons and 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers, the 8th Hussars and 11th Hussars, under the command of Major General the Earl of Cardigan were inspected by Lord Lucan; five men of the 13th had already succumbed to cholera.

On the 1 September the regiment embarked for the Crimea - a further three men dying en-route. On the 20 September the regiment, as part the Light Brigade, took part in the first major engagement of the Crimean War, the Battle of the Alma. With the Russians in full retreat by late afternoon, Lord Lucan ordered the Light Brigade to pursue the fleeing enemy.

However, the brigade was recalled by Lord Raglan as the Russians had kept some 3, uncommitted cavalry in reserve. The 13th Light Dragoons formed the right of the front line.

The 13th and 17th moved forward; after yards the 11th Hussars, in the second line, also moved off followed by the 4th and 8th. It was not long before the brigade came under heavy Russian fire. Lord Cardigan, at the front of his men, charged into the Russian guns receiving a slight wound.

He was soon followed by the 13th and 17th. The two squadrons of the 13th and the right squadron of the 17th were soon cutting down the artillerymen that had remained at their posts. Once the Russian guns had been passed, they engaged in a hand-to-hand fighting with the enemy that was endeavoring to surround them by closing in on either flank.

However, the Light Brigade having insufficient forces and suffering heavy casualties, were soon forced to retire. Louis Edward Nolan January 4 October 25 , who was a British Army officer of the Victorian era, an authority on cavalry tactics, and best known for his controversial role in launching the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava.

He was the first casualty of that engagement. Great steel and grip patina, no scabbard. Chequered rounded grip all steel mounts. A sound and effective personal manstopper protection pistol that was highly popular during the late Georgian to early Victorian era.

London, like many cities around the world at that time, could be a most treacherous place at night, and every gentleman, or indeed lady, would carry a pocket or overcoat pistol for close quarter personal protection or deterrence. As with all our antique guns no license is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables.

We believe this most fascinating and interesting curiosity may have been created for an English gentleman fearful of the darkest foes in nature sometime after The cased set's man stopper bore percussion pistol has a good and tight working action, and fitted with a most useful belt hook.

In some early references, these compendiums of secreted weapons, especially from this era, have often been referred to as Vampyre Protectors, and they are often documented as having, like this one has, a small container with a bottle containing Holy Water within. We feel the term of "Vampyre Protector" is simply part of folklore, a name gained when a weapon set such as this was allegedly used by a gentleman who may have travelled to the notorious region in Romania, and around the Carpathian mountains.

Not of course by Bram Stoker's Romania visitor Jonathan Harker, as he was blissfully unaware of the Vampires existence at all. Although, it must be said, especially in the 19th century, the fears of Vampirism were, and still are, taken very seriously indeed throughout much of the isolated areas of Eastern Europe. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance of the English word vampire as vampyre in English from , in a travelogue titled Travels of Three English Gentlemen published in The Harleian Miscellany in Vampires had already been discussed in French and German literature.

After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with the Treaty of Passarowitz in , officials noted the local practice of exhuming bodies and "killing vampires". These reports, prepared between and , received widespread publicity.

The English term was derived possibly via French vampyre from the German Vampir, in turn derived in the early 18th century from the Serbian vampir when Arnold Paole, a purported vampire in Serbia was described during the time when Northern Serbia was part of the Austrian Empire. It is thanks to authors such as John Polidori [in ] and Bram Stoker in that the legends of Vampires and Dracula continue throughout the world into the 21st century.

Some few years ago the Royal Armouries acquired a somewhat similar cased, pistol, stake, crucifix and accessories etc. Bram Stoker created the most famous Vampire of all, Dracula based on the reputation and lore of Vlad Dracul The Impaler The reality of vampires was firmly believed in by the doctors and scientific pioneers of years ago.

Dr Groom, Professor of English at Exeter University, said vampires were considered real in the s and early in the s serious scientists in London were producing widely-read papers discussing their behaviour. Dracula has been assigned to many literary genres including vampire literature, horror fiction, the gothic novel and invasion literature.

Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, he defined its modern form, and the novel has spawned numerous theatrical, film and television interpretations.

As with all our antique guns no licence is required as they are all unrestricted antique collectables. Single edged blade made by Horster of Solingen. Carried by the Swiss Infantry sharpshooters. Steel head bound to the head with traditional cowhide. The impi, in its Shakan form, is best known among Western readers from the Anglo-Zulu War of , particularly the famous Zulu victory at Isandhlwana, but its development was over 60 years in coming before that great clash.

To understand the full scope of the impi's performance in battle, military historians of the Zulu typically look to its early operations against internal African enemies, not merely the British interlude. In terms of numbers, the operations of the impi would change- from the Western equivalent of small company and battalion size forces, to manoeuvres in multi-divisional strength of between 10, and 40, men.

The victory won by Zulu king Cetawasyo at Ndondakusuka, for example, two decades before the British invasion involved a deployment of 30, troops.

These were sizeable formations in regional context but represented the bulk of prime Zulu fighting strength. Following Lord Carnarvon's successful introduction of federation in Canada, it was thought that similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might succeed with the African kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa.

Among the obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand and its army. Frere, on his own initiative, without the approval of the British government and with the intent of instigating a war with the Zulu, had presented an ultimatum on 11 December , to the Zulu king Cetshwayo with which the Zulu king could not comply. Bartle Frere then sent Lord Chelmsford to invade Zululand after this ultimatum was not met.

The war is notable for several particularly bloody battles, including an opening victory of the Zulu at the Battle of Isandlwana, followed by the defeat of a large Zulu army at Rorke's Drift by a small force of British troops. The war eventually resulted in a British victory and the end of the Zulu nation's dominance of the region. Mortimer, Brass Lockplate Finest walnut stock, all brass mounting furniture with acorn trigger guard superbly engraved with bow quiver and arrows, his deluxe and rarely seen brass flint action lockplate.

The brass lockplate bears his name, Mortimer, engraved on the face, and his personal proof, of a Crown surmounting HW is struck between the regular two barrel proofs on the top of the brass barrel, with the address London engraved.

Barrel affixed with two slides and bears two ramrod pipes. Very finely engraved bow quiver and arrows to the brass buttplate, and a stands of arms to the equally finely engraved sideplate.

Mortimer is one of the great names in English gunmaking and was appointed 'Gunmaker to the King' from ; Harvey Walklate Mortimer, son of Samuel Mortimer, was born in He was apprenticed to his father in ; he became free of the Farriers Co. Contractor to East India Co. Specialised in repeating pistols and gold mounted guns for the Eastern market.

He made gold-mounted firearms set with diamonds for the U. Government as a present for Bey of Tunis, in The company became H. He died in Mortimer bore a Royal Warrant having supplied weapons to the Royal family and was well known for supplying weapons to The Royal Mail Coaches. Probably the best known and one of the most revered gun makers of the period. The Blunderbuss born of the Dutch word "Donderbus", appropriately meaning "Thunder Pipe" or "Thunder Gun" came to prominence in the early part of the 18th Century and was more akin to the modern day shotgun than a "long gun" musket or heavy pistol of the time.

As such, she excelled in close-in fighting, be it within the confines of naval warfare or walled nature of the urban environment, where her spread of shot could inflict maximum damage to targets at close ranges.

Its manageable size, coupled with its spread shot, ensured some level of accuracy for even the novice user and its appearance was rather intimidating to those unfortunate enough to be staring down the business end. As with modern firearms, the Blunderbuss also made for an excellent security-minded weapon and soon found popularity amongst all matter of operators - military, civilian and, of course, criminal parties - by the middle of the s.

Even George Washington championed the Blunderbuss for Continental Army "Dragoon" units of the burgeoning American military as opposed to the carbine this being nothing more than a full-featured long gun of lesser overall length, proving suitable for horse-mounted handling. The battle took place on 23 June at Palashi, West Bengal, on the riverbanks of the Bhagirathi River, about km north of Calcutta, near Murshidabad, then the capital of the Nawab of Bengal.

Overall russet finish with feint traces of gold decoration on the slightly loose hilt. Small picture in the gallery shows Robert Clive after the victory at Plassey. Very good tight actions to both. The locks were transform silex almost two hundred years ago, which is an upgrade system to convert the actions to percussion, in order to ensure their working life by an additional forty years or so. Locks engraved Cour Royal with feint makers name beneath.

Barrels bear superb gun barrel makers proof stamps. It pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France. Both sides were supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as by American Indian allies.

At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60, settlers, compared with 2 million in the British North American colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. The European nations declared war on one another in following months of localized conflict, escalating the war from a regional affair into an intercontinental conflict.

It refers to the two main enemies of the British colonists: Fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the south to Newfoundland in the north.

It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne within present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May , during which Virginia militiamen under the command of year-old George Washington ambushed a French patrol. In , six colonial governors in North America met with General Edward Braddock, the newly arrived British Army commander, and planned a four-way attack on the French.

None succeeded, and the main effort by Braddock proved a disaster; he lost the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, and died a few days later. The Acadians were expelled, both those captured in arms and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to His Britannic Majesty. Indians likewise were driven off the land to make way for settlers from New England.

The British colonial government fell in the region of modern Nova Scotia after several disastrous campaigns in , including a failed expedition against Louisbourg and the Siege of Fort William Henry; this last was followed by Indians torturing and massacring their British victims.

William Pitt came to power and significantly increased British military resources in the colonies at a time when France was unwilling to risk large convoys to aid the limited forces that they had in New France, preferring to concentrate their forces against Prussia and its allies in the European theater of the war.

Between and , the British military launched a campaign to capture the Colony of Canada part of New France. They succeeded in capturing territory in surrounding colonies and ultimately the city of Quebec The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict. France ceded to Great Britain its territory east of the Mississippi. Spain had ceded Florida to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Cuba.

France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Great Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in eastern North America. Wooden slide at the base of the spout for opening and closing the flask to release. Very scarce to find, somewhat crude in its manufacture but typical of the time and the region within which it was used in the North West province of China and the mountains of Tibet. How or why the two regional types were so similar is unknown.

Recently returned from being featured in a documentary on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We have only had two similar such reservoir butt guns in the past 20 years. Fine resevoir guns such as this were made by Samuel Henry Staudenmayer circa , was he was former workman of John Manton, gunmaker to the Prince of Wales and the Duke of York. Two air weapons by this maker are recorded in the Hanoverian Royal Gunroom, one of which was sold Sotheby's, Hanover, October He is also the maker of a Girandoni-system air rifle in the Royal Collection at Windsor inv.

Two bellow guns by this maker are preserved in the Bargello, Florence and another was formerly in the gunroom of the Princes zu Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck at Schloss Dyck. The Girandoni air rifle was in service with the Austrian army from to around The advantages of an air gun were a high rate of fire, no smoke from propellants, and low muzzle report granted it acceptance.

It did have problems and was eventually removed from service for several reasons decades after introduction. While the detachable air reservoir was capable of around 30 shots it took nearly 1, strokes of a hand pump to fill those reservoirs. Later, a wagon-mounted pump was provided.

The reservoirs, made from hammered sheet iron held together with rivets and sealed by brazing, proved very difficult to manufacture using the techniques of the period and were always in short supply. In addition, the weapon was very delicate and a small break in the reservoir could make it inoperable. Finally, it was very different from any other weapon of the time and any soldier using it needed to be highly trained.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition used the rifle in the demonstrations that they performed for nearly every Native American tribe they encountered on the expedition As far back as BC, Pharaoh Ktesbias II of Egypt, first described the use of compressed air to propel a projectile. Modern air gun history began in the 15th century. These weapons were known as wind chambers and were designed using an air reservoir connected to a cannon barrel.

These devices were capable of propelling a four pound lead ball over a distance of yards, and able to penetrate 3 inch oak board. These weapons rivaled the power of gun powder based firearms of that time and came into use in the Napoleonic wars in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Due to the fact that high powered air guns were both silent and deadly, they were feared by many, Nobility tried to keep these air guns out of the hands of commoners, and air resevoir butt guns even saw much combat in battle, an Austrian Army used a air resevoir rifle designed by Grandoni in that shot 20 rounds of.

Bullets at speeds as high as 1, feet per second. They fought well against Napoleon's Army and even though the Austrian Army was out numbered and lost the battle, the Austrian's armed with air guns demoralized Napoleon's Army and they suffered had a great number of casualties. Air guns were so feared by Napoleon's Army that any enemy soldier captured with a air rifle was executed as an assassin.

One important reason Napoleon was so fearful about air guns was because there was no cloud of smoke upon firing which would allow the sniper to be pin-pointed and killed. One of the most famous air guns in history is the. They took it along for hunting, just in case the black powder got wet and also used it to impress the Indians, the Indians call this air rifle, "The smokeless thunder stick. In overall fine condition. The round, smoothbore, appox.

Exposed cocking "hammer" with an external mechanism and sculpted mainspring: Complete with its original air release lever. Matching mechanism with all of its original components, a strong mainspring and air release valve. A very nice and complete example of a rare late 18th century German or Austrian Reservoir-Butt gun. It has a hook breech with double platinum lining and very attractive fine Damascus browning, walnut half stocked with steel furniture bearing further overall engraving.

Joseph was also a sports shooter in his own right and a friend of Colonel Peter Hawker. There were two Manton brothers, John was the elder and Joseph the younger. John Manton was born in and after his apprenticeship, set up in London in Piccadilly. Manton began producing percussion guns in and Manton himself died in , leaving the business in the hands of his son. Some of Manton's weapons are considered the finest of the flintlock age.

These four all went on to establish major firms of gun makers, which continue to this day. The true English Damascus barrel is prepared from three rods, twisted as described and put together as shown in the twisted riband, and is known technically as three-iron Damascus ; the silver-steel Damascus is similarly made, but of different metal piled in a different order.

The rods having been twisted, and the required number welded together, they are sent to the iron-mill and rolled at a red heat into ribands, which have both edges bevelled the same way.

There are usually two ribands required for each barrel, one riband or strip to form the breech-end, and another, slightly thinner, to form the fore, or muzzle, part of the barrel.

Upon receiving the ribands of twisted iron, the welder first proceeds to twist them into a spiral form. This is done upon a machine of simple construction, consisting simply of two iron bars, one fixed and the other loose ; in the latter there is a notch or slot to receive one end of the riband. When inserted, the bar is turned round by a winch-handle.

The fixed bar prevents the riband from going round, so that it is bent and twisted over the movable rod like the pieces of leather round a whip-stock. The loose bar is removed, the spiral taken from it, and the same process repeated with another riband. The ribands are usually twisted cold, but the breech-ends, if heavy, have to be brought to a red heat before it is possible to twist them, no cogs being used. When very heavy barrels are required, three ribands are used; one for the breech-end, one for the centre, and one for the muzzle-piece.

The ends of the ribands, after being twisted into spirals, are drawn out taper and coiled round with the spiral until the extremity is lost, as shown in the representation of a coiled breech-piece of Damascus iron.

The coiled riband is next heated, a steel mandrel inserted in the muzzle end, and the coil is welded by hammering. Three men are required one to hold and turn the coil upon the grooved anvil, and two to strike.

The foreman, or the one who holds the coil, has also a small hammer with which he strikes the coil, to show the others in which place to strike. When taken from the fire the coil is first beaten upon an iron plate fixed in the floor, and the end opened upon a swage, or the pene of the anvil, to admit of the mandrel being inserted. When the muzzle or fore-coil has been heated, jumped up, and hammered until thoroughly welded, the breech-end or coil, usually about six inches long, is joined to it.

The breech-coil is first welded in the same manner, and a piece is cut out of each coil; the two ribands are welded together and the two coils are joined into one, and form a barrel. The two coils being joined, and all the welds made perfect, the barrels are heated, and the surplus metal removed with a float; the barrels are then hammered until they are black or nearly cold, which finishes the process.

This hammering greatly increases the density and tenacity of the metal, and the wear of the barrel depends in a great measure upon its being properly performed.

A very nice and tight action and overall in nice condition for age. A very small piece of wood lacking from the breech tang area. With small cyrillic etched passages on both sides of the blade. With good luck motto and the mans name. A sturdy curved single edged steel blade of kilij form. A hilt comprised of a grip with horn grip-scales rising to a bulbous pommel in a characteristic Turkish Ottoman style, set with rivets and enclosed by fluted brass straps, with a white metal crossguard.

The wooden scabbard is covered in low grade silver panels decorated with geometric patterning with a twin loop for suspension. The horn grip is very good with flower head rivets, the scabbard is very good for age. The blade is inscribed with an inscription in cyrillic. Many old Turkish and Mameluke blades were constantly remounted and used for a few hundred years and were passed from father to son and were used by the next generations, hence swords made earlier were still used after hundreds of years.

The overall length with the scabbard is approximately: The overall length without the scabbard is approximately: Examples of similar forms of Ottoman blades dated to the 16th th century and mounted in 18th century mountings can be seen in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum Istanbul and also in the Askeri Museum Istanbul Turkey.

The kilij sword was mainly favored by the famous Turkish Ottoman elite cavalry Sipahi, but was also very popular in many Balkan states and some Eastern European countries such as Poland, Ukraine, and Hungary and parts of the Russian Empire.

Mamelukes are members of a former military caste originally composed of slaves from Turkey, that held the Egyptian throne from the mid thirteenth century to the early s. They remained strong until Regency fashion took inspiration from everything Mameluke, from swords to clothing.

Many British generals and admirals took to wearing the Kilij [or mamluke], and in France, Napoleon's general's did very much the same.

This sword is in it's original scabbard. The origins of the Mamluke originate from the slave soldiers who converted to Islam and served the Muslim caliphs and the Ayyubid Sultans during the Middle Ages. Over time, they became a powerful military caste often defeating the Crusaders.

Initially the Mamelukes were mostly Qipchaq Turks from the steppe lands north of the Black Sea but from onwards the rulers were mostly Circasians from the Caucasus. Though Mameluke politics were marked by intrigue and violence, the regime was very successful. Militarily they were the only power able to defeat the Mongols, at the battle of Ain Jalut in , and they put an end to the crusader occupation of the Holy Land with the conquest of Acre in Both economically and culturally, Mameluke rule was the most successful period in the history of medieval Egypt.

The Mamelukes remained a force to be reckoned with until their defeat by Napoleon at the battle of the Pyramids in In colour patinated bronze, possibly Austrian. In the Norman through to the Plantagenet eras, War Axes were often the weapon of choice of Kings of England in battle. Henry 1st was the fourth son of William the Conqueror. Considered by contemporaries to be a harsh but effective ruler, Henry skilfully manipulated the barons in England and Normandy. In England, he drew on the existing Anglo-Saxon system of justice, local government and taxation, but also strengthened it with additional institutions, including the royal exchequer and itinerant justices.

Normandy was also governed through a growing system of justices and an exchequer. Many of the officials that ran Henry's system were "new men" of obscure backgrounds rather than from families of high status, who rose through the ranks as administrators. Virginia Outdoors Foundation holds the majority of easements in Albemarle County, see map above. Board of Supervisors Contact Information - Please contact your Supervisors regarding your views on these documents.

Link to Sustainable Freedom Lab Text of Second Amendment: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. See tab above for more information. Common Core Curriculum - Alert!! Robert Hurt's Congressional web site: Click on photo to access his web site. Photo contributed by Steve Peters. Contact Republican House Members, office addresses and telephone numbers: Robert Hurt Congressional email updates - Sign up.

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Easily Track the Activities of the U. The Heritage Action Scorecard measures votes, co-sponsorships and other legislative activity to show how conservative Members of Congress are. Click here to check your Congressman's score My Time to Vote - U. Elections - Promoting Democracy thru Education.

I am very concerned over the direction our President and Congress are leading us. As a conservative Republican and a Christian, my focus will be from these perspectives. Wo Gerald Okamura want Billy to go back to taking the injections and when Billy refuses after finding out that Yin "purchased" Mi Lo in Hong Kong when she was twelve years-old and used her as a whore , Yin stages one final tournament before he leaves the city with millions of dollars in gambling bets.

Meanwhile, Scott who has been honing his fighting skills with Tanaka and Ogami's help enters the tournament under the alias "Robert Parker" in one of the most ridiculous disguises I have ever seen and works his way up the ranks.

Yin, who is not fooled by Scott's disguise believe me, a blind man could spot it , comes up with a surefire way to kill two birds with one stone: Of course, this all blows-up in Yin's face, as Billy and Scott join forces with Tanaka and Ogami to stop the madness. When Yin shoots Mi Lo in the back, Billy goes after him, but the severely disappointing finale finds Billy shot three times and Yin escaping.

While the original CAGE had a decent budget and a star turn by Lou Ferrigno, this sequel is much too cheap looking check out the sparse audience members during the cage matches and is more concerned with fighting than characterization, which was the original's strength.

Ferrigno seems to forget that he's supposed to be retarded in this film and acts more like Ferrigno than a simpleton, which is a damned shame. The acting, by a series of genre pros, is strictly generic Leo Fong is absolutely terrible here, but any Fong fan already knows that his thespian ability has always been lacking and returning director Lang Elliott THE PRIVATE EYES - and screenwriter Hugh Kelley seem more interested in showing people beating the stuffing out of each other rather unconvincingly and less about Scott and Billy's relationship.

It's no better or worse than the multitude of faceless DTV actioners that crammed the video shelves in the 90's. CHALLENGE - You have to love a film that puts a disclaimer at the beginning of the film saying that they purposely made a film with no nudity, sexuality or bad language so that it is family-friendly. Don't you believe it!

While that statement is basically true, there's enough violence which they thankfully left out of the disclaimer on view here to make action fans happy. Senate candidate John Frank Challenge producer Earl Owensby is about to hand over incriminating documents to the State Crime Commission, which doesn't sit too well with local crime boss and businessman Mr. Guthrie screenwriter William T. He hires three assassins including one who's a martial arts instructor to kill Challenge, get the documents and also get a second set which he has hidden at home.

The assassins beat the snot out of Challenge, steal the first set of documents and leave Challenge bleeding but not dead and unconscious in a motel parking lot.

They then go to Challenge's house and accidentally knock out Challenge's wife Katheryn Thompson. Unable to find the second set of documents, they burn down the house, killing Challenge's wife and young daughter.

Challenge is rushed to the hospital and, after learning of his family's death, vows revenge on those responsible. One-by-one, Challenge kills those responsible one involves a sharpened belt buckle! Guthrie for a final showdown. I think what makes this different from most revenge flicks is that Challenge gets revenge without actually killing anyone.

They basically kill themselves, but not without a little push from Challenge. One crashes his car and it explodes trying to get away from Challenge. Another flies his plane into a forest after running out of fuel.

Still another crashes through a window and falls to his death after missing a flying kick aimed at Challenge. Guthrie drops dead of a heart attack running away from Challenge who fires his shotgun into the air, basically scaring Guthrie to death.

Earl Owensby this is his first film, both as actor and producer , who was never accused of being a good actor, made a career of churning out these little regional actioners from his Shelby, North Carolina production facility and they were very popular in the South. After the films opening disclaimer, it was unnerving to view Owensby's plentiful back hair apparently, that's family-friendly.

Truth be told, I would rather see nudity. Director Martin Beck handles the action rather proficiently, offering us a long car chase through the back streets of Shelby, a prop plane chase and some other nice set pieces. Ignore the info on IMDB that says that they are both the same film they even mix and match the credits as it is just plain wrong.

Other Owensby films include: The diamond thieves want their booty back, as does the mob boss they stole them from. Zach and Chance join forces when one of the thieves tries to kill Zach and they try to discover who actually has possession of the diamonds.

That's the whole plot, folks. Toss in numerous gun fights, car chases and dialogue like. The fact that it took two people to direct this, Charles T. Kanganis who also acts in this using the name "Charlie Ganis" and Addison Randall who also co-wrote the script and has a role as a jerkoff cop who gets a bullet in his brainpan , is an early indicator that this film is in trouble.

The action scenes are lame, the fight scenes badly staged and the acting is pretty poor. He previously played the same character in L. HEAT , L. What can I say about Dan Haggerty who also was an Associate Producer on this that I haven't already complained about in other reviews? If you've seen him in one film, you've seen him in all his films.

He wears the same expression on his face in all his roles. It looks as if he's squeezing a twelve foot turd out his ass and he has the emotional range of a hard boiled egg and I get the distinct impression that the booze he drinks in all his roles is real.

How he keeps getting work is beyond me. CHANCE has a lot of bullet squibs a PM trademark , some fine female nudity and a couple of good stunts but, surprisingly, no scene of a car flipping through the air in slow-motion, another PM trademark , but unless you need a really bad action fix and you can't find anything better to watch, this film can be skipped. For PM Entertainment completists only. My friend William Wilson keeps sending me these Dan Haggerty disasters because he knows that I have no choice but to review them.

He knows that I am still looking for a good Dan Haggerty film when we all know that there's no such thing. William Wilson is a bastard who should have other people start his car from now on. Payback is a bitch. A PM Entertainment Release. Roger doesn't trust the government very much because, years before, he and some other soldiers went to Vietnam on their own to rescue some American POWs and when they returned to the States, the government killed nearly everyone involved in the mission This is the only connection to the first film.

With the help of his old Commanding Officer, Roger was able to avoid being killed by changing his identity and living in anonymity.

Nothing lasts forever, though, as Roger now finds himself paying back his old C. When they sneak into Garcia's compound and find he is not th ere, it's obvious that there's a traitor within their ranks.

Gabriel thinks it's Marisol and shoots her point-blank in the stomach after ripping open blouse and discovering that her breasts aren't disfigured She previously had stated that Garcia's men scarred her breasts in a torture session years before, which is a reverse take-off on a truly disturbing scene in the first film.

When Rafael Cesar Olmo , the leader of the freedom fighters, is captured and tortured by Garcia and his minions, Roger, Gabriel and a select few freedom fighters attempt to rescue him, even though the American government has called off the assassination and wants Roger to return to the States.

Even though they manage to rescue Rafael, the rescue attempt turns out to be a trap and only Roger, Gabriel and Rafael escape with their lives. When the real traitor tips his hand, Roger kills him, but soon finds out that his entire mission was a setup conducted by Garcia to flush out the freedom fighters and kill them.

Roger still has a trick or two up his sleeve and Garcia pays for his treachery with his life. This is nowhere near as good or nihilistic as the first film. Gone is the majority of the anti-American bias that made the first film so memorable and in it's place is a lukewarm "guess who the traitor is" plot that is so easy to solve, it's ridiculous. The action scenes are statically filmed and are infrequent When they do come, it's just the standard firing of guns and a few bloody bullet squibs and explosions.

There's nothing here remotely extraordinary or awe-inspiring. Equally annoying are the dubbed voices used for both Brett Clark and Jeff Moldovan, who both have real voices that are distinct and identifiable. The finale is especially frustrating, as we expect Roger to get even with his Commanding Officer when he returns to the States. Instead, he returns to Miami where the entire film was lensed , gets into a limousine with his C.

What a crock of shit. Don't waste you time with this one, folks. Fabrizio DeAngelis, the director of the first film, was the Producer here. This film never had a legitimate U. When Carmine Longo Mike Lane, returning from the first film is released from prison after a lengthy stay, he goes after the people who put him there. Barnes, Larson and Cougar are ambushed by Longo at their friend's funeral and Larson is killed. Longo becomes a loose cannon, much to the dismay of local crime lord Voce Joe Donte , who is losing too many of his men who are assisting Longo in fulfilling his revenge.

Barnes and Cougar then go on a systematic tour of destruction, killing two goons by oversweating them in a sauna and hiring some merceneries which includes Robert Z'Dar to help them. They then rob Voce's personal armoury to get the weapons they need to get their revenge. Longo puts pressure on mob lawyer Kozlo Frank Sinatra Jr. It's not long before all hell breaks loose as bullets fly, people die and Barnes faces a personal problem which involves his girlfriend Julie Deana Jurgens.

This film contains a cast that is full of B-movie staples. Director Tornatore fills the film with plenty of explosions, car chases, stunts and other bloodshed, some of it filmed with Tornatore's patented Peckinpah-like slow-motion photography. He spends most of his time running around firing weapons, so acting takes a back seat here.

Those wily bastards have the cast credits and plot correct on the DVD sleeve, they just put the wrong film on the DVD. The only way you are going to see this film in any form in the U. The prologue shows a French army convoy being ambushed by the Vietcong in They kill all the French soldiers and steal millions of dollars in art, important documents and diamonds that the convoy was transporting.

Flash-forward fifteen years and a group of American commandos are raiding a secret underground tunnel that is the headquarters for VC General Diap Ken Watanabe.

After killing all the VC in the tunnel and capturing General Diap, the leader of the commandos, Captain Brady Michael James , calls for a pick-up but, for reasons unknown until much later, some of the squad members point their weapons at Captain Brady. When back-up finally arrives, they find all of Brady's men shot dead and Brady lying unconscious with a fistful of diamonds in his hands.

Brady is brought to court martial, but is given five days to bring General Diap back to prove his innocence. She manages to walk through the compound unnoticed and leads Brady right to Diap, where he takes him prisoner for a second time.

As they are leaving the compound, a welcoming committee is waiting and they must fight their way out. Brady and his men are ambushed as they turn every corner, as if someone doesn't want him to make it back. Could it be the mysterious General McMoreland Gordon Mitchell , who may know more than he is letting on? A squad of French soldiers also want Diap because they think he knows the location of the treasure stolen fifteen years earlier.

After saving each other's hides a couple of times, the French forge an uneasy alliance with Brady and agree to take possession of Diap only after he testifies at Brady's court martial. That's easier said than done, as making it to the trial will be no easy task. Diap keeps bribing the soldiers with diamonds to let him escape and Brady must then decide whether to kill Diap or bring him back for the trial. If you ask me, the only good gook is a dead gook.

There's enough double and triple crosses here for ten films and the violence, while not particularly bloody, comes fast and frequently. The dialogue consists of macho lines, like this exchange between Brady and Terryl: Yo u stupid asshole! When three soldiers in gas masks to hide their identities brutally gun down an American officer and his lady friend i.

When they question Col. Kasler, he tells the duo that Major Shooman wants him and another officer dead, but ref uses to tell them the reason why or the other officer's name, citing reasons of "national security". When an assassin unsuccessfully tries to kill Col. Kasler, Morgan and Hawk chase the assassin through the streets of Saigon, where they capture and then "interrogate" him Morgan says of Hawk while he's breaking the assassin's fingers one-by-one, "Don't piss him off.

He makes Bruce Lee look like a pussy! When Hawk is called away to visit one of his sick children What? Morgan is forced to kill the assassin before he can interrogate him, so he and Hawk who suddenly reappears confront Col. Kasler, who finally spills the beans. It seems Kasler, the dead officer from the beginning of the film and another officer witnessed Major Shooman and the Cobra Force slaughter an entire village of innocent Vietnamese men, women and children, but the U.

As Morgan and Hawk race to protect the third officer, they will soon discover that the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is just the width of a hair. Someone is lying to them in a big way and it could cost them their lives. Brent Huff who sports a distracting dangly earring in his left ear is simply awful here.

His idea of "acting" is to scream out all his lines it becomes unintentionally funny after a while and Max Laurel, who was so memorable as ZUMA , is dubbed by someone with a very high-pitched voice, making his character seem more like a parody than a real person. Laurel also disappears mysteriously several times throughout the film. It's as if he wasn't available to film some of his scenes and is so noticeable, it becomes distracting.

And, call me crazy, but did I spot mid's style bathing suits on view during the opening scene? There are also plenty of other examples of objects cars and weapons that shouldn't be seen in a film set in the mid's. That's just lazy filmmaking. Frank is killed He is shot in the leg and then point-blank in the head.

When one of the goons is unable to free the briefcase from Frank's wrist, he blows off Frank's hand with a few well-placed shots from his pistol! His wife Julie Joan Becherich is kidnapped and murdered before his eyes after he turns over a briefcase he picked up in San Francisco.

The murderers behind Julie's death are the same people who hired the goons to steal the briefcase from Frank, so J.

The Colonel tells J. He kills three guys in a strip bar when they refuse to answer his questions "Wrong answer, dude! He then shotguns five guys who try to attack him and his wife's best friend Katie Barbara Garrison and then forces another guy to commit suicide after he gives J. The fascists send a female assassin named Angel Amy Sachel to dispose of J. To say anymore would spoil the final surprise. I can't begin to describe how impossibly infectious this film is. It should fail on all levels and, really, it does , but it is so logic-defying and non-stop violent, you can't help but keep your eyes on the screen.

It's like watching a huge pile-up on the freeway where no one survives, only all the dead bodies are the most ugly people this side of a trailer park crackhouse Just what is in Portland's water anyway?

Why is everyone in this film so butt-ugly? Perm-headed Joey Johnson is simply indescribable as J. He's like Dirty Harry without the badge or talent , as he blows away people left and right, usually for just looking at him funny. People appear and disappear for no rhyme or reason other than to be victims of J. It really is one of the looniest and out-of-left-field conclusions that I have witnessed in quite a while.

When director Shaw doesn't know how to end a scene, he simply puts J. I haven't even touched the surface of what this film has to offer, including terrible acting watch Angel's scene , lousy sound editing when J.

Oh, what fun you are going to have if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a copy of this! The city of Portland should use this film as a tourist attraction "Come to Portland. Chances are you are better-looking than us! Then come visit one of our many fine parks! Not available on DVD. After viewing this action abomination, I'm happy to report that, yes, it is.

In the opening, police detective Zeus director George Pan-Andreas and his partner get into a shootout with a drug gang the guns sound like cap pistols and you can see the wadding come out of the barrels and, when some of the gang come popping out of garbage cans! Zeus is then forced to kill two crooked uniformed cops who were going to kill him and take the gang's drug money.

Zeus is kicked off the force and is set to go on trial for killing the two cops He complains to his Police Chief, defending his reputation as a crime fighter: Morrell begs Zeus to come back Zeus says, "How can I come back now? You broke my heart! Zeus finally relents and rescues a young girl and she is able to pick out one of the killers by his mug shot. When the little girl is killed by the crime organization, Zeus gathers his Vietnam buddies together both of them to exact some vengeance, but first they need some strict military training to get into shape this sequence is a real howler, as Zeus and his comrades go through their training with a no-nonsense drill sargeant while having flashbacks of their time as P.

Once their training is done, Zeus and his two buddies go on an all-out assault on the crime organization's compound, armed with silencers, AKs and their own deadly hands. Zeus begins to kill all the bad guys one-by-one including one memorable death with a switchblade hidden in his sleeve until he meets the female head of the organization, who tries to seduce Zeus, but ends up dead by one of her own devices.

Director George Pan-Andreas, who speaks with such a thick Greek accent that he's hard to understand on several occasions, has surely made a lousy film, but it is so damned watchable and full of hilarious set pieces and quotable dialogue, you'll be glad you watched it.

I could go on-and-on about all the visual and auditory nuggets this film has to offer, like when Zeus' wife says to him, "Is that all you care about, justice and uzo? Though basically a vanity project for Pan-Andreas he's the only actor listed in the crazy opening credits , there's plenty of other stuff to laugh at, from the badly-staged martial arts fights Zeus screams like a little girl every time he gets hit , to the unbelievable action sequences check out the motorcycle stunt which results in one of the main bad guys getting a nasty tire burn on his face!

The film is very bloody in spots, including a nasty throat slashing the effects are surprisingly well done and wait until you get to the surreal ending involving Zeus and the President. I was laughing so hard I nearly pissed myself! This is cheese of the highest order and essential to every badfilm fan.

The General is not too cooperative with the international press, though and with good reason , so when nosy reporter Helen Brigitte Porsh notices that American William Corbett Richard Randall has arrived in-country secretly at the General's request, she cozies-up to him and becomes his lover, looking for the "big" story.

William agrees to take her to visit the General at his country home after she and William are attacked leaving a casino, where Helen proves quite adept in the martial arts and we learn that the General has strange Macumba supernatural powers, like the ability to shoot electricity from his fingertips. William and the General are business partners in an illegal drug cartel the General burned down all the drug farms not only to get the U.

The General agrees to grant Helen an interview as a fav or to William, where he shows the extant of his powers by making a dwarf called Astaroth the late Nelson de la Rosa; THE RAT MAN - appear and disappear at will and applies some of his fingertip electrical skills on Helen's cranium I told you it gets stranger!

When William and Helen leave the General's home, their Jeep breaks down and they hop on a passing bus, only to have the bus attacked by some of the General's men. When a child on the bus is shot dead, Helen goes bonkers, grabs a machine gun and begins shooting back, killing several of the General's men. William and Helen are then taken prisoner along with some Contra rebels and the General makes them all work in the mines as slaves at the dreaded "Gates of Paradise", a secret underground location where something unknown and evil is going on.

This involves Contra women, including Myra, infiltrating the camp as prostitutes and, while the guards are getting their rocks off, David, William and the Contra fighters sneak in.

It doesn't go as planned. When Helen is taken prisoner and tortured by the General and Astaroth, William reveals that he is actually a U. Marine working undercover to bring down the General and leads the Contras on a raid of the General's compound to rescue Helen he fails miserably and stop the General's tyranny at least he's successful there. This Italian-made mixture of war action and supernatural shenanigans may be strange, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it is good.

Most of the war action footage here is cribbed from other Italian war films especially Umberto Lenzi's BRIDGE TO HELL [] and the supernatural elements are woefully underplayed, like they were an afterthought in Donald Russo's screenplay when the production ran short and they needed to put in something to increase the running time.

The appearance of diminutive Nelson de la Rosa as the general's magical sidekick is a treat but, he, too, is underutilized and and only appears in a couple of scenes.

It's definitely not one of the Big Boot's shining moments. Never legitimately released on home video in the U. Not Rated , but there's not much in the way of blood or gore. The film opens with the freedom fighters attacking a Dutch military base lots of explosion and people on both sides getting riddled with bullets , only to have the Dutch capture the leader of the freedom fighters, who bites his own tongue off when he is questioned and gets shot for not cooperating.

The Captain of the Dutch military base wants to question the villagers as to where the freedom fighters, known as the Daredevil Commandos, are hiding and kill all those who won't assist them, but the Captain's second-in-command temporarily talks the Captain out of it, because the eyes of the world are on Indonesia and a mass slaughter of innocent people would not be in the best interest for the Dutch.

Morale is also at an all-time low Sgt. Hassim kicks the shit out of one of his comrades when the man threatens to report another soldier getting cozy with a female nurse , so when Sgt.

Hassim is offered a mission to investigate a burned-out village, he grabs the rest of his team to investigate. It turns out to be a trap set-up by the Dutch and that crazy Dutch Captain. Low on ammunition, the Daredevil Commandos nevertheless win the battle using sheer brute strength One of the Daredevils is killed, though , which severely pisses-off the Dutch Captain, who steps-up the brutality World view be damned!

Hassim's Daredevils, witnessed his sister and mother being raped by the Dutch when he was younger and these newer instances are waking-up long-suppressed memories. The Dutch are aware that the freedom fighters are running low on weapons, ammunition and food, so they plan on one final big-scale attack to wipe them off the face of the Earth.

What the Dutch didn't count on is the resiliency of the Indonesian people, as the Daredevil Commandos plan to strike the Dutch where it will hurt them the worst: At their huge compound where the Dutch store a large cache of weapons, ammunition and food. It seems the only way to truly surprise the Dutch at the compound is to climb down a huge vertical cliff, so Sgt. Hassim and his men train hard for the mission. Will this be the mission that will finally make the Dutch exit Indonesia for good?

The direction, by E. Bakker who has no other film credits that I can find and may be a pseudonym , is rather flat and uninvolving, and he seems more interested in patriotic speeches rather than action through the first two-thirds of the film at one point, just before a battle, the Daredevil Commandos break out into a patriotic song that begins with "Indonesia, you are my country When the final battle does come at the Dutch compound but not before more singing and prayers , it turns into a pretty bloody and stunt-filled extravaganza, with plenty of explosions, gunfights and bullet squibs, but it still pales in comparison to most Indonesian actioners because it doesn't contain a single "What The Fuck?!?

Even the climatic rock avalanche is filmed for minimal impact. A rare loser from Producer Gope T. Samtani and Rapi Films. Alexander and Gino Makasutji. Never legitimately available on home video in the U. The film opens with a man in a big black hat, black gloves a staple of giallo films and carrying a cane with a spring-loaded blade killing a man in Genoa, Italy, one of his thugs finding a key taped to his torso.

Cobra jumps at the chance since Kadinsky was the person who got him fired. Cobra hasn't seen his son in quite a while, ever since his wife was murdered. Brenda and Cobra start a love affair, but can she be trusted? We soon find out that Kadinsky is the man in the black hat and gloves and he knows Cobra's every move, killing anyone who could give information to Cobra and attempting several times to take Cobra's life, all unsuccessful. The biggest problem Cobra runs up against is that everyone he talks to is deathly afraid to talk about Kadinsky.

When Papasian tells Cobra that Kadinsky is dead, we must figure out if he really is. Let me talk about this film's bad points: The action is lazily staged, the violence too restrained for its own good in the film's defense, the print I viewed may have been edited and the dialogue laughable, but not in a funny way. The usually dependable Franco Nero looks to be sleepwalking through his role as Cobra.

His "trademark" in this film is spitting out his gum or sticking it in unusual places, like a thug's forehead. It is supposed to be funny, but it comes off as forced Nero's mouth is always moving, even when he doesn't talk! It's also obvious that Nero used a stuntman for some of his more strenuous scenes, including jumping and climbing from building-to-building another "trademark" and a long fight scene in an alleyway.

Even when Cobra's son Tim is killed, run over on orders by Goldsmith, the film rings hollow. We see Cobra crying, as he has memories of the good times he and Tim had including an uncomfortable game of two-man baseball where it is apparent Nero didn't know how to swing a bat at a ball.

In the very next scene, it looks as if he has gotten over it. Castellari has certainly done much better, including the post-apocalypse films For crying out loud, even the stunningly gorgeous Sybil Danning doesn't bother to offer up any naked flesh! Here are some of the few positive points: When Lola gets into a fight with Cobra in an empty disco she uses martial arts moves to kick the crap out of him!

Their fight is made to look like they are dancing on the disco floor, making it the film's most inventive scene. Still, it's a cheat on the audience since Licinia Lentini is actually a woman and an obvious double was used when unmasking her false femininity. There are also a couple of deaths that are memorable. Cobra shoots a drum of gasoline, sending the assassin high into the air. Unfortunately, both deaths are bloodless.

It looks to be edited in some scenes, the most notable edits come during Tim's death Italian crime films have no problem showing children getting killed and the finale, when Cobra enters Goldsmith's office and point his gun at him, accusing Jack of ordering his son's death we even get a peek at the boy's killing in Cobra's mind, images that were missing from the film at the time of the Tim's death.

We hear the gun go off and then there is a jump edit where Cobra enters an elevator. Also look for Castellari's daughter, Stefania Girolami Goodwin, as Papasian's secretary and Castellari himself as one of the thugs in the warehouse shootout. All in all, this is a very minor film in a genre of Italian movies that are usually violent and exciting.

Also starring Massimo Vanni a. The lyrics to the film's title tune which sounds like it was sung by a drunk Italian! Nobody tells me what to do! There are far more entertaining Italian crime films out there.

Not Rated , but no nudity and very little blood. The only problem is, sadistic crooks Al John Morghen and Kurt Vincent Conte have caught on to their scam and they kill Harry by drowning him in a bathtub before he is able to tell them where he has hidden the money.

Phoenix cop George Ryan Bo Svenson is called to the scene of the crime and catches Al and Kurt ransacking the place, which leads to a pretty good car chase lots of crashes and stunts and a shootout on the rooftop of a building, where George gets shot several times in the chest. Luckily, he was weraring a bulletproof vest.

George and Lou's investigation leads them to Las Vegas, where they learn of Kathy's involvement in the casino scam. When George gets too close to the truth, Al and Kurt ambush him on a lonely desert road, causing him to crash his car, but Lou rescues him with his helicopter and chase the bad guys again.

Al and Kurt manage to give them the slip again and kill George's girlfriend Nancy Karen De Witt after they make her give George false information she sends him to a gay bar! The bad guys then kidnap Kathy and take her away in a helicopter, where she takes them to an abandoned ranch where the money is hidden.

George and Lou are in hot pursuit and the finale finds the bad guys getting killed, then George and Lou head to Vegas and get rich on the slot machines using the deceased Harry's computer gizmos. Sometimes crime does pay. This Italian production, filmed on location in Las Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona is a pretty good comedy action film and Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson look like they are having a ball, even if some of the dialogue is clunky.

The gay bar scene doesn't make an ounce of sense, but it sure is funny. He kills people showing no emotion, killing George's girlfriend by putting two bullets point-blank into her head and shooting Kathy in the back in the film's finale, never breaking his blank stare. The only aspect of this film that seems dated is the early 80's computer imagery and a serious faux paus that happens over the opening credits when Harry sticks an RJ11 plug into an RJ45 jack , not to mention some ridiculous, totally made-up computer jargon that Svenson has to try to say convincingly with a straight face he doesn't succeed.

They first appeared together in director Enzo. Set during the Vietnam era, the story revolves around a young black man an excellent Larenz Tate and his struggles to find a way to support his pregnant girlfriend after graduating high school.

He joins the Marines because he wants to fight for his country, but he soon learns that the war is not the place to escape reality.